Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T13:49:10.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The failure to discriminate: superparasitism of Trichoplusia ni Hübner by a generalist tachinid parasitoid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

V. Caron ,
J.H. Myers  and
D.R. Gillespie
V. Caron*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4
J.H. Myers
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4
D.R. Gillespie
Affiliation:
Pacific Agri-food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Agassiz, BC, V0M 1A0
*
*Author for correspondence Fax: +61 3 9905 5613 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Parasitoids are dependent on their hosts, which provide all of the resources for larval development. Parasitoid fitness, therefore, is directly related to the host quality, as determined by host size, age and health (e.g. parasitisation status); and this can only be assessed by the female parasitoid during host selection. Most studies of parasitoid-host interactions have focused on hymenopteran parasitoids rather than dipterans that are believed to be less discriminating during host selection. We assessed the impact of host quality and superparasitism on parasitoid fitness in Compsilura concinnata Meigen, a gregarious tachinid dipteran parasitoid, and its lepidopteran host the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni Hübner.

Female C. concinnata parasitised all host stages of T. ni that were presented to them, but emergence rates were higher from older hosts. Females readily superparasitised hosts. The number of flies emerging was higher from hosts parasitised at later instars, and flies emerged earlier from heavily superparasitised hosts. Superparasitism decreased parasitoid pupal weight and development time, indicating intra-host competition between parasitoid larvae and skewed the parasitoid sex ratio in favour of males.

Host discrimination does not seem to be well developed in C. concinnata. Hosts are superparasitised despite the effects of superparasitism on offspring and sex ratio. This could be due to the wide host range of C. concinnata; avoiding high superparasitism could occur naturally due to host switching and, therefore, developing host discrimination mechanisms for one host species may not be crucial.

Keywords

host-parasitoid interactionshost qualityhost selectionhost stagesex ratioCompsilura concinnata
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 100 , Issue 3 , June 2010 , pp. 255 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnaud, P.H. (1978) A Host-Parasite Catalogue of North American Tachinidae (Diptera). SEA Miscellaneous Publication No. 1319. Washington DC, US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Belshaw, R. (1994) Life history characteristics of Tachinidae (Diptera) and their effect on polyphagy. pp 45–162 in Hawkins, B.A. & Sheehan, W. (Eds) Parasitoid Community Ecology. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Boettner, G.H., Elkinton, J.S. & Boettner, C.J. (2000) Effects of a biological control introduction on three nontarget native species of saturniid moths. Conservation Biology 14, 1798–1806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bourchier, R.S. (1991) Growth and development of Compsilura concinnata (Meigen) (Diptera: Tachinidae) parasitizing Gypsy moth larvae feeding on tannin diets. Canadian Entomologist 123, 1047–1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodeur, J. & Boivin, G. (2004) Functional ecology of immature parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 49, 27–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caron, V. (2005) Ecological interactions between the cabbage looper, a parasitoid, host plants and Bacillus thuringiensis. MSc thesis, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia.Google Scholar
Caron, V., Janmaat, J.F., Ericsson, J. & Myers, J.H. (2008a) Avoidance of the host immune response by a generalist parasitoid, Compsilura concinnata Meigen. Ecological Entomology 33, 517–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caron, V., Myers, J.H. & Gillespie, D.R. (2008b) Fitness-related traits in a parasitoid fly are mediated by effects of plants on its host. Journal of Applied Entomology 132, 663–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloutier, C., Duperon, J., Tertuliano, M. & McNeil, J. (2000) Host instar, body size and fitness in the koinobiotic parasitoid Aphidius nigripes. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 97, 29–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culver, J.J. (1919) Study of Compsilura concinnata, an imported tachinid parasite of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth. US Department of Agriculture Bulletin 766, 1–27.Google Scholar
Darrouzet, E., Boivin, G. & Chevrier, C. (2008) Sex allocation decision under superparasitism by the parasitoid wasp Eupelmus vuilleti. Journal of Insect Behavior 21, 181–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorn, S. & Beckage, N.E. (2007) Superparasitism in gregarious hymenopteran parasitoids: ecological, behavioural and physiological perspectives. Physiological Entomology 32, 199–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eichhorn, O. (1996) Experimental studies upon the parasitoid complex of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) (Lep., Lymantriidae) in lower host populations in eastern Austria. Journal of Applied Entomology 120, 205–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elzinga, J.A., Harvey, J.A. & Biere, A. (2003) The effects of host weight at parasitism on fitness correlates of the gregarious koinobiont parasitoid Microplitis tristis and consequences for food consumption by its, Hadena bicruris. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 108, 95–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feener, D.H.J. & Brown, B.V. (1997) Diptera as parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 42, 73–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fidgen, J.G., Eveleigh, E.S. & Quiring, D.T. (2000) Influence of host size on oviposition behaviour and fitness of Elachertus cacoeciae attacking a low-density population of spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana larvae. Ecological Entomology 25, 156–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerling, D., Roitberg, B.D. & Mackauer, M. (1990) Instar-specific defense of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum - Influence on oviposition success of the parasite Aphelinus asychis (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 3, 501–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfray, H.C.J. (1994) Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology. 473 pp. Princeton, NJ, USA, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfray, H.C.J. & Shimada, M. (1999) Parasitoids as model organisms for ecologists. Population Biology 41, 3–10.Google Scholar
Gu, H., Wang, Q. & Dorn, S. (2003) Superparasitism in Cotesia glomerata: response of hosts and consequences for parasitoids. Ecological Entomology 28, 422–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, J.A., Vet, L.E.M., Jiang, N. & Gols, R. (1998) Nutritional ecology of the interaction between larvae of the gregarious ectoparasitoid, Muscidifurax raptorellus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), and their pupal host, Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae). Physiological Entomology 23, 113–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, J.A., Bezemer, T.M., Elzinga, J.A. & Strand, M.R. (2004) Development of the solitary endoparasitoid Microplitis demolitor: host quality does not increase with host age and size. Ecological Entomology 29, 35–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ichiki, R. & Shima, H. (2003) Immature life of Compsilura concinnata (Meigen) (Diptera: Tachinidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 96, 161–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignoffo, C.M. (1963) A successful technique for mass-rearing cabbage loopers on a semi-synthetic diet. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 50, 178–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janmaat, A.F. & Myers, J.H. (2003) Rapid evolution and the cost of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis in greenhouse populations of cabbage loopers, Trichoplusia ni. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 270, 2263–2270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keasar, T., Segoli, M., Barak, R., Steinberg, S., Giron, D., Strand, M.R., Bouskila, A. & Harari, A.R. (2006) Costs and consequences of superparasitism in the polyembryonic parasitoid Copidosoma koehleri (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Ecological Entomology 31, 277–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, S.K., Fink, L.S. & Brower, L.P. (2003) Parasitism of native Luna moths, Actias luna (L.) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) by the introduced Compsilura concinnata (Meigen) (Diptera:Tachinidae) in Central Virginia, and their hyperparasitism by trigonalid wasps (Hymenoptera: Trigonalidae). Environmental Entomology 32, 1019–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackauer, M. & Chau, A. (2001) Adaptive self-superparasitism in a solitary parasitoid wasp: the influence of clutch size on offspring size. Functional Ecology 15, 335–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, E.R. & Chalfant, R.B. (1984) Biology, behavior and dispersal of adults. pp. 14–18in Lingren, P.D. & Green, G.L. (Eds) Suppression and Management of Cabbage Looper Populations. USDA Technical Bulletin No. 1684. Washington DC, US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Potting, R.P.J., Shellen, H.M. & Vet, L.E.M. (1997) Fitness consequences of superparasitism and mechanism of host discrimination in the stemborer parasitoid Cotesia flavipes. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 82, 341–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santolamazza-Carbone, S. & Rivera, A.C. (2003) Superparasitism and sex ratio adjustment in a wasp parasitoid: results at variance with local mate competition. Oecologia 136, 365–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS Institute Inc. (2000) JMPIN v. 4.0.3. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Shorey, H.H., Andres, L.A. & Hale, R.L. (1962) The biology of Trichoplusia ni (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) I. Life history and behavior. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 55, 591–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speirs, D., Sherratt, T. & Hubbard, S. (1991) Parasitoids diets: does superparasitism pay? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 6, 22–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stireman, J.O. & Singer, M.S. (2003) What determines host range in parasitoids? An analysis of a tachinid parasitoid community. Oecologia 135, 629–638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strazanac, J.S., Plaugher, T.R., Pertrice, T.R. & Butler, L. (2001) New Tachinidae (Diptera) host records of eastern north American forest canopy Lepidoptera: baseline data in the Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstaki non target study. Journal of Economic Entomology 94, 1128–1134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, D.W.S. & Greene, G.L. (1984) Cultivated and wild host plants. pp. 1–13in Lingren, P.D. & Green, G.L. (Eds) Suppression and Management of Cabbage Looper Populations. USDA Technical Bulletin No. 1684. Washington DC, US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Tena, A., Kapranas, A., Garcia-Mari, F. & Luck, R.F. (2008) Host discrimination, superparasitism and infanticide by a gregarious endoparasitoid. Animal Behaviour 76, 789–799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Alphen, J.J.M. & Visser, M.E. (1990) Superparasitism as an adaptive strategy for insect parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 35, 59–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wajnberg, E., Bernstein, C. & van Alphen, J. (Eds) (2008) Behavioural Ecology of Insect Parasitoids - From Theoretical Approaches to Field Applications. 464 pp. Oxford, UK, Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weseloh, R.M. (1980) Host recognition of the tachinid parasitoid, Compsilura concinnata. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 73, 593–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weseloh, R.M. (1982) Implications of tree microhabitat preferences of Compsilura concinnata (Diptera: Tachinidae) for its effectiveness as a gypsy moth parasitoid. Canadian Entomologist 114, 617–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weseloh, R.M. (1984) Effect of size, stress, and litigation of Gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) larvae on the development of the tachinid parasite Compsilura concinnata Meigen (Diptera: Tachinidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 77, 423–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J.A. & Andow, D.A. (2008) Benefits of self-superparasitism in a polyembryonic parasitoid. Biological Control 46, 133–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar